Oh paprikapapaya, i love those two places! I'm so happy they're still open. I miss zen garden something fierce.

oh geez, I totally remember when we lived in the same neighbourhood and never met!

_________________Did you notice the slight feeling of panic at the words "Chicken Basin Street"? Like someone was walking over your grave? Try not to remember. We must never remember. - mumblesIs this about devilberries and nazifruit again? - footface

Oh man, we had the WORST service at Portobello the one time we went, at lunchtime like three years ago. And the food was really not excellent either (I guess the lunch is closer in quality to the dinner now?) so it was just a really disappointing experience.

I've only really had consistently terrible service at The Foundation. Vegan restaurants in Edmonton are the same - hit or miss, but nothing stands out as particularly awful (Noorish can be quite slow at times).

Foundation is hilariously bad. Vancouver can be kind of snobby and the service usually reflects that.

Herbivore in SF has the WORST service ever. It's all-vegan.

I dunno. It varies. The service at Radha was always great.

Last edited by vijita on Sat Feb 16, 2013 10:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2010 8:03 pmPosts: 5709Location: The State Of No R's

All the veg*n places I've been to have been pretty awesome. I've actually been sitting here trying to think of a time when I didn't get good service. One time I was at a vegan restaurant with my friend and there was a bug on the table which my friend and I thought was no big deal, it happens sometimes. The waitress was horrified, though, and kept apologizing to us and wouldn't let us leave until we had a piece of vegan cheesecake for free.

_________________"...anarchists only want to burn cars and punch cops."- nickvicious"We'll be eating our own words 30 years from now when we're demanding our legislators outlaw aerosol-based cyber dildo-wielding death holograms."- Brian

Joined: Fri Apr 01, 2011 11:51 amPosts: 6561Location: United States of New England

we dont have any veggie restaurants were i live so my experience is limited but the one ive been to the most is Grasshopper in Allston which is Asian vegan. service seemed pretty much the same as any Chinese restaurant ive ever been to. no issues.

ive been to Veggie Planet in Cambridge a couple times (havent been to Veggie Galaxy yet but i do know someone who works there) i actually dont remember the service so it couldnt have been horrible. probably was just fine. once was for a show in the Club Passim part and they served us food on cafeteria trays (we were sitting in chairs up against the wall not at tables) which cracked us up but the server was nice

and ive been to Red Lentil in Somerville (?) once. i think actually a ppker works there. i think our server was really nice there. i dont remember so it couldnt have been horrible.

so i guess my experience has been service at veg restaurants has been basically the same as regular restaurants.

the only other veg restaurants ive been to was when we went to PDX.i loved the food at Vita Cafe i think the service was fine.i think it was Blossoming Lotus we went to and while our server was nice i think we barely ever saw them and felt a tad ignored.we went to one other cafe for breakfast one day that i think was vegan or veg that seemed to have some sort of communist theme but we just got bagels and coffee so im not sure how much we can comment on service since we just ordered at the counter then sat down. my husband kept saying he was scared of the hippie vegan commies :-P

^ Is there a Red Lentil in Somerville? I only know of Watertown, but my experience there has always been awesome and attentive even at super busy times of the day.

Pulse (may it rest in peace) I remember being particularly awful, though. Their food was awesome enough to make up for it, but dear Lard did the service suck.

Veggie Galaxy isn't bad, but isn't great either. Pretty average?

Among the places I frequent in Pas, one of them is a bit hit or miss (getting unsolicited lectures on the 'healthy' options or being ignored or 100% attentive polite service) and the other is pretty standard chinese restaurant service. These are both vegan restaurants, though, not veggie. I haven't really noticed a difference overall between vegetarian and vegan places in either Boston or Pas.

Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2010 8:03 pmPosts: 5709Location: The State Of No R's

Red Lentil is in Watertown and VFR works there.

_________________"...anarchists only want to burn cars and punch cops."- nickvicious"We'll be eating our own words 30 years from now when we're demanding our legislators outlaw aerosol-based cyber dildo-wielding death holograms."- Brian

I think it just varies from restaurant to restaurant and probably from server to server.

Yeah, I'd agree with that for the most part. There seems to be some veg restaurants who have built their "brand" on crepe service, but there are others that pride themselves on excellent service. So...it's like any restaurant.

I think it just varies from restaurant to restaurant and probably from server to server.

Yeah, I'd agree with that for the most part. There seems to be some veg restaurants who have built their "brand" on crepe service, but there are others that pride themselves on excellent service. So...it's like any restaurant.

I think it's also what someone else said above--with more choices you are probably going to go to restaurants with good service. With limited choices you will put up with a lot more because you can eat everything on the menu and how the hell often does that happen?!

_________________"I'd rather have dried catshit! I'd rather have astroturf! I'd rather have an igloo!"~Isa

"But really, anyone willing to dangle their baby in front of a crocodile is A-OK in my book."~SSD

The Sprout and Happy Hummus Hut here are pretty good. I think the owner/cook of HHH is really loving the job and it shows! The only time service was meh at the Sprout that I can think of, it seemed like the waitress was upset about something and really trying to not let it show, if that makes sense. The friends I went with were making fun of the restaurant and made fun of her and said they could totally do her job, so if it was because of that I don't blame her one bit. I was so embarrassed and vowed never to eat out with those friends ever again.

And maybe the bookstore part of it woos me but I still think Mondragon in Winnipeg is the greatest thing in the whole world.

_________________I was really surprised the first time I saw a penis. After those banana tutorials, I was expecting something so different. -Tofulish

I think it just varies from restaurant to restaurant and probably from server to server.

Yeah, I'd agree with that for the most part. There seems to be some veg restaurants who have built their "brand" on crepe service, but there are others that pride themselves on excellent service. So...it's like any restaurant.

I think it's also what someone else said above--with more choices you are probably going to go to restaurants with good service. With limited choices you will put up with a lot more because you can eat everything on the menu and how the hell often does that happen?!

This exactly. Terrazen is one of the few completely vegan places in Amsterdam (there are a couple of restaurants run out of squats that I haven't been to because they're both in parts of town that aren't convenient to me). The service at Terrazen is abysmal and the food it hit or miss. It's run by one guy who does all the cooking, and unless his kids are available, all the serving as well. I've been there three times, and only once gotten exactly what I ordered. Most times, we're the only ones in there (the place it tiny) but it still takes an hour to get your food. And yet, I feel like I should support it because it's an all-vegan business and those are few and far between here (plus despite the bad service, the guy who runs it is really nice). I'm afraid if it closes, people will say "See, there's no market for vegan food!"

There are a couple of vegetarian places with vegan option here. I've usually had decent service at De Bolhoed, but the food is "meh". The last time I was at Golden Temple, we were the first ones in there at 5:00 when they opened and it took an hour for the food to arrive. I actually had to work an event around the corner at 6 pm, and ended up having to take the food to go and eat it with a plastic fork in the coat room. It was bland as heck.

I've had better luck elsewhere. I recently had vegan Chinese at De Oude Plek in Rotterdam and the service there was fine (and the food amazing!) I don't think I had a single negative experience at any restaurant in Toronto! (Then again, when you're used to Dutch service, service in almost any restaurant in N. America is going to be a breath of fresh air.) The only burp in service I had there was at Sadie's Diner, where I ordered a vegan grilled cheese but the waitress didn't hear me say vegan and I got a dairy grilled cheese. But they fixed it really quickly, so I was still really happy with the service.

_________________Ain't no guarantees in life, and nothing that comes out of my vagina can change that. - Erika Soyf*cker

The last time I went to Sadie's in Toronto we had awful service. Our waitress really seemed like that was the last place she wanted to be, and I'm sure we've all had days at work like that, but I wouldn't rush to go back.

I don't know if I'd say I have had more poor experiences at veg restaurants than non-veg though.

_________________I like my bagels like I like my men - big and covered with earth balance & nooch. - Bunniee

I went back several years later, and the waitress had the hardest time trying to understand that I wanted tofu scramble with my full breakfast (it was offered as part of a separate menu item but not included with the breakfast).

HA, was that the time went to the 'Note?!

Yes! I really didn't think my request was that bizarre or difficult, yet she seemed so confused and flustered trying to figure out if it could be done. I'm just glad we weren't there at a busy time.

_________________A pie eating contest is a battle with no losers. - amandabear

I think it's been mostly good for us, occasionally not-so-great, never awful. I feel like servers at some of the nicer vegan restaurants seem to think they're too cool to do a good job (almost like you're inconveniencing them by being there?), and then some are just awkward young people who don't really know what they're doing.

my experience is not vast, but i think the places where i've been to veg restaurants (outside of NYC, where service has always been great) have tended to have crummy service at most restaurants on the whole (i'm thinking of my college town, where either a) your server was either hung over or thinking about impending academic doom or b) the veg restaurants in questions were Rather Well Known and the servers were full of themselves {and the food wasn't even that great})